From kgeiger@amgen.com Mon Oct 2 10:37:41 2000
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 08:53:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Karl Geiger
To: David Futrelle
Subject: Re: Journalist with questions about Business Buzzword Bingo
On Fri, 19 Jun 1998, David Futrelle wrote:
>Hi Karl --
>
>I'm a writer for the Chicago Tribune doing a short feature on Buzzword
>Bingo, I noticed your web page, and was wondering if I could ask you a
>few questions about it.
>
>My deadline is tight, so if you could get back to me Friday (or over
>the weekend) that would be best; if you don't have time to answer by
>e-mail, I'll be happy to call and do a (brief) phone interview -- if
>you let me know how and where I can best reach you.
>
>Here are the questions:
>
>When and where did you first discover the game? What inspired you to
>set up your own page? (Did you write the software you use?) What sort
>of response have you gotten to it?
(1) Dilbert cartoon. (2) In January, 1997, I was making a joke in our
weekly staff meeting by deliberately using a long chain of buzzwords. My
colleague, Lori Colleran, deadpanned "Bingo, sir." We both knew about the
Dilbert strip and laughed. That night, I wrote the simple web page you
(and several others) have found. (3) I put the BBB page out on a public
area at the University of Southern California in early Feb 1997. I had
about four inquiries between Feb 1997 and May of 1998. Three were from
folks who wanted to copy and use the page for their own companies. Lisa
Rein at _Netscape World_ did a JavaScript programming tips piece on it
(http://www.ne-dev.com/netscapeworld/nw-06-1997/nw-06-javascript.html) in
June of 1997. In May 1998, Asra Nomani interviewed me extensively for the
WSJ piece you doubtless pick up the story from. Since the WSJ piece and
prior to today I've had four additional requests from reporters. Your
inquiry is the second email about BizBuzBingo I've got today (is it
something in the water, or are folks just slow readers ).
>What do you think is the appeal of the game?
Zeitgeist. The pace of business is furious and we need tension relievers.
Most of us in the trenches are sick to death of repeatedly hearing
recycled catchphrases from management gurus: Six-sigma, Theory Z,
reengineering, etc. Ever read anything by Tom Peters or George Guilder?
Most of it's rubbish. Almost every corporate paragon Peter's describes in
_In Search of Excellence_ tanked during the late 1980s; Guilder's
foam-mouthed prophetics merely restate the obvious grossly. Better to
study real work by hands-on folks like Jack Welch (GE), Jill Barad
(Mattel), or T. J. Rodgers (Cypress Semiconductor).
>Do you play the game at work? Does your boss know about it? (Is he/she
>in on the secret?) Have you ever been caught playing the game? What
>happened?
I don't play the game at work because when at work I'm extremely busy
working (I'm a software engineer). I made the game as an entertainment
for others and as a joke -- my fun came in programming it. I've shown the
game to my boss and colleagues and they think it's a good joke too. There
is no secret. I hope you enjoy playing it.
>What's your favorite/least favorite buzzword (or phrase)? Are they all
>just nonsense, or do some actually embody important ideas (however
>inelegantly they're phrased)? Do you ever catch yourself using
>buzzwords (unconsciously, or against your better judgment)?
The Zen answer is "None of the phrases are nonsense; all of the phrases
are nonsense." Every one has been gleaned from the popular press or
management guru books and phraseology. My favorite phrase is "P = I - C"
admittedly a cryptic algebraicism which means "Profit equals income less
costs." Duh. Yes, I do use buzzwords in conversation, sometimes because
they've insinuated themselves into the langauge of the business world and
have become necessary to communicate rapidly, and sometimes with knowingly
humorous intent.
>If I quote you in the piece, what's the best way to identify you?
I work in the corporate library at Amgen, Inc. I design and program
information retrieval and knowledge management systems similar to what you
might use (NEXIS or Dialog), only more specialized and sophisticated. My
official title is "Senior Database Analyst" and I've been working with
IR/KM problems for about ten years, the last two and a half at Amgen. As
the article you're writing is probably not Amgen-related, please identify
my company as "a large California biotechnology firm." See Amgen's
official site at http://www.amgen.com/.
>Yours (proactively),
>David Futrelle
Please feel free to telephone. I'll be in my office most of the day but
have a floating meeting this afternoon sometime between 13:30 and 16:00.
Info appears after my .sig below.
Good luck with your article.
Cheers,
:Karl
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Amgen Library kgeiger@amgen.com Amgen Inc.
Mail 27-3-B 531 One Amgen Center Drive
Tel. 805-447-3687 http://www-ucs.usc.edu/~karl Thousand Oaks CA 91320
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Opinions herein are mine alone and may/may not reflect those of Amgen.